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Thursday, March 25, 2010

albumreview: Fall Be Kind by Animal Collective

Animal Collective was prolific in 2009. The release of their eighth and most accessible full length, to date Meriwether Post Pavilion garnered a large amount of critical praise from the musical press and fans alike. While some musical outfits would be content to create just one great album a year, Animal Collective is not one of those groups due to the output of a full length and an EP over the past twelve months.

Fall Be Kind is a five-song EP that was released only eleven months following Meriwether. While rooted in the ideas of their previous work, Fall represents the invigorated creativity of a group eager to explore new themes and challenging musical concepts. The result is an avant-garde album that maintains a unique sense of style and listenability.


The second track of the EP “What Would I Want? Sky”, sampling the Grateful Dead Song “Unbroken Chain”, is the highlight of the album. This song represents a triumph for the members of Animal Collective, particularly Avey Tare, who is a life-long admirer of Grateful Dead

The final three songs are more rooted in dreamscapes. “On A Highway”, a song first recorded in 2007 during a recording session for the BBC, is renovated with new instrumentation and enhanced production to create an evocative sense of nocturnal travel.


Animal Collective’s 2009 albums are a poignant addition to their already outstanding discography. While it may be difficult for Animal Collective to match the creativity they expressed during 2009, Fall Be Kind has created optimism for the band’s future endeavors.